


tiny tales of sunshine and snow

by junesuns



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: 30 Day Cheesy Tropes Challenge, 30 Day OTP Challenge, Angst with a Happy Ending, Best Friends, Childhood Friends, Don't copy to another site, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, References to Depression
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-01
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-07 03:49:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17953046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junesuns/pseuds/junesuns
Summary: Thirty one Markhyuck drabbles for the soul.Day five: scar worship (I did my best for this one)





	1. Into The Woods

Mark is in love with Donghyuck.

 

It is something natural, a part of Mark that he has always been aware of. The sun rises in the east, chocolate is clearly superior and Mark Lee is irrevocably, absolutely, head-over-heels in love with Lee Donghyuck.

 

In other words, he's _whipped._

 

Anyways.

 

The point of Mark being in love with Donghyuck is that he can never refuse him. Mark's usually a good Christian boy, the apple of his parents’ eye and the pride of the local community but he's gotten into more trouble after knowing Donghyuck for a month than he has in the ten years of his life that were Donghyuck-free. Donghyuck has the stupidest ideas and Mark wishes that he could say that he knows how to say no to him, but his mother hasn't raised a liar.

 

Which brings them here, in the middle of the woods in the middle of the night with no idea of where they are and how far they are from home.

 

They had been coming back home after finishing a group project at Renjun's house and Donghyuck had persuaded Mark to take the shortcut through the woods instead of walking back home through their usual route. Mark had been too busy listening to Donghyuck rambling on about his day to keep an eye on where they had been going and now, they're lost.

 

“How the hell did this happen,” Mark mutters, looking around to see if he can spot a familiar landmark. Donghyuck has already busied himself in collecting twigs so that they can make a fire, _to ward off the werewolves! Hyuck, werewolves don't exist,_ and Mark reminds himself to keep an eye on Donghyuck as well.

 

Mark has always been a little scared of the woods at night. If Donghyuck disappeared, he would scream.

 

Donghyuck looks up to see Mark chewing his bottom lip, _a very distracting habit indeed,_ and Mark, on noticing his gaze, immediately turns red and stops. “Don't worry Mark,” he says softly. “ We'll be fine. We're together, after all.”

 

Mark's lips curve up into a small smile. Donghyuck's right, they'll be fine.

 

(they do find their way back home and Mark is grounded for a month by his mother but it's alright, because Donghyuck sneaks into his room to keep him company everyday.)


	2. Mark's Revenge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how to tag (｡╯︵╰｡)

Donghyuck chose to call the new boy _Canada_ because he liked the look of annoyance on his face and the way his ears turned red, probably from embarrassment.

 

“It's a four letter name!” the boy cried out. “M-A-R-K. Mark. It's an easy name to remember! Why do you keep on calling me Canada?”

 

Donghyuck smirked. “Because I like you.”

 

“Shut up,” Mark spluttered, but he didn't continue the conversation.

 

***

 

Over time, Donghyuck's list of nicknames for Mark has increased. Jaehyun-hyung's _Markles,_ _Mork_ which that one kid in seventh grade always used instead of Mark (Mark had given up on trying to correct him as well) and Jisung's _Markie-hyung_ ( _I allow it only because he's the maknae of our group,_ Mark had always insisted before Jisung grew up and Mark sulked for two weeks when he realised  that Jisung had stopped calling him that) had high places in that list. _Minhyungie_ had a special place, because Mark always seemed to soften when his mother called him that. Donghyuck liked seeing that secret side of him, which he rarely showed to anyone.

 

Mark didn't really have a special nickname for anyone. He just always used a person's most common nickname, and that was only if he was close to them. So, he called Donghyuck _Hyuck_ or _Hyuckie_ or _Duckie,_ just like all the others in their group of friends did.

 

Donghyuck sometimes wished that Mark had a special nickname for him. He would never _say_ that, of course, it was just a thought that he occasionally had.

 

When his wish came true, he cursed his past self.

 

***

 

Donghyuck barged into the Lee household and rushed up the stairs after hearing Mrs. Lee shout “He's in his room!” from the kitchen. On entering Mark's room, he saw Mark huddled underneath the blankets, clearly fast asleep.

 

 _Of course, he had to oversleep on one of the most important days of our lives,_ Donghyuck thought, before he went closer to the bed. He wouldn't risk waking Mark up violently, not after that one time Mark had thrown his alarm clock at him. Mark had been _very_ sorry and Donghyuck had got free ice creams for a month after that but it was still better to be safe than sorry. _If only you'd remember that more often,_ the voice inside Donghyuck's head that sounded suspiciously like Mark when he was nagging him said, which Donghyuck promptly ignored.

 

“Mark. Hey Mark, wake up,” Donghyuck said softly, leaning over and shaking Mark.

 

Mark stirred and groaned before opening his eyes. On seeing Donghyuck, he smiled. “Good morning, darling.”

 

Donghyuck blinked. _What?_

 

He suddenly became hyper aware of the situation. He absently noticed a thousand different things, like how Mark's eyes looked bigger than usual, how his voice seemed deeper and raspier and how they were _so, so close, Donghyuck just needed to lean forward a little more and then they could kiss-_

 

“Boys!” Mark's mother called from downstairs and the spell broke. Donghyuck jumped back and Mark's mouth fell open. “I'm pretty sure that of you don't hurry up, all the tickets for the new Avengers movie will be sold out!”

 

“Oh shit,” Mark cursed, tripping out of his bed. “I completely forgot about the movie tickets, the others will kill us if we don't manage to get them. I don't know how I fell asleep, I'd even set an alarm.” He stopped wrestling with his bedsheets and looked up at Donghyuck pitifully. “Help?”

 

Donghyuck helped him out, already teasing him about his clumsiness while his mind was more preoccupied with the fact that _holy shit, did I just almost kiss Mark?_

 

“What would you do without me, Mark?” he said when they were in Mark's car, buckling himself in.

 

Mark looked over and gave him a small smile. “I don't know, sunshine.”

 

_Oh my God, Mark was going to give him a heart attack if he was going to continue this._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case it wasn't clear, Mark thought that he was dreaming which is why he called Hyuck darling. Sunshine was because he's a little shit, and also because I'm weak for Hyuckie being called sunshine.
> 
> Comments and kudos make my day! Help a girl out, please.
> 
> I'm @junesuns on twt, come and talk to me!


	3. My Sunshine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark writes a letter. A love letter, to be precise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next two prompts are going to be connected into an angsty mini-series!!  
> Why? Because I want to make myself suffer, that's why. 
> 
> T/w: Mentions of suicide, depression, car accident.  
> It's unclear, but please stay safe!

_ It started when I fell off my bicycle in the middle of a race and you ran over and gave me a Spiderman band-aid. My favourite superhero was Spiderman, and the band-aid just proved that you had good taste. _

 

_ We quickly became friends, and then best friends. You're my only dongsaeng who doesn't use honorifics with me. It would be too awkward if you did, I've grown used to your sass. _

 

***

 

Mark had recently moved to Korea from Canada, joining school a few months after the session had already started. He was the new kid in class and clearly didn't fit in, speaking in broken Korean and walking around with his name written in English letters on his nametag. 

 

Most children, when they're young, shun the things they don't understand. So, Mark spent the first few months missing Toronto terribly and wishing that he could go back. Then he was challenged to a bicycle race by some of the boys in his class, fell off his bicycle and made a friend. 

 

Needless to say, Mark left the other boys in the dust in the next race, Donghyuck cheering him on from the sidelines throughout.

 

Mark still remembers that day clearly. The wind in his hair, the sound of wheels crunching over gravel, a high voice cheering from the distance. Arms wrapping themselves around him tightly, breathless laughter, the feeling that things had finally come together and things were alright in the world. 

 

***

 

_ Somehow, you always know how to make me happy. How to pull me out of my head when I suddenly become sad without any reason. I'm so grateful for that, I hate myself when I'm like that. I should thank you for that, sometime. _

 

_ *** _

 

“Are you in a shoe-throwing mood again?” Donghyuck said, entering the room and closing the door behind him. Mark was listening to a J. Cole song so loudly that its heavy beats could be heard from across the room but he immediately paused it and took off his headphones when he saw Donghyuck. He twisted his face up into a facsimile of a smile that would have fooled anyone but Donghyuck just narrowed his eyes. Mark dropped the smile.

 

“Why are you here?” 

 

“Get up, loser, we're going for ice-cream.”

 

“You just misquoted Mean Girls. Why?”

 

“What do you mean I misquoted them?  _ They  _ misquoted  _ me,”  _ Donghyuck pulled Mark out of his chair, grinned.

 

This time, when Mark smiled back, it was real.

 

***

_ I hated how distant we had become. I still don't know how it happened. Things were peachy one moment and the next, you're dating Eunji and I'm joining the basketball team and something between us had changed. I realised it when I unconsciously started avoiding you, because seeing you with Eunji made me feel weird and you were with her all the time. I can't blame you, you always wanted the cliched first-love experience. I guess you realised it when you started ignoring me after you broke up with her, I still don't know why you did that. _

 

_ I'm not going to lie, Sunshine, that hurt me. _

 

_ *** _

 

This kind of behaviour was unexpected from Mark. He had woken up the day before and realised that he had somehow slept through all the History classes in the last semester. On top of that, his History finals was going to be held the two days later. This led to him pulling an all-nighter the night before the exam, frantically cramming dates and facts about ancient civilisations. 

 

Exactly twelve minutes after midnight, his phone rang. He picked it up without looking at the caller ID and barked, “What?”

 

“Is this a bad time? Sorry, I can call later.”

 

Mark blinked. This was a voice he didn't expect to hear on his phone at such a late hour. Not anymore, anyway. “Donghyuck?”

 

“Yeah, it's me,” followed by a noise that sounded suspiciously like a sniffle. Mark hummed, thought quickly about what he could do.

 

“Can you meet me at the park? I'm going crazy here, I need a break. You're lucky your exams have finished, Hyuckie.”

 

“Okay, I'll see you there.”

 

***

 

_ I'm so, so happy you called me that night and I was able to talk you out of your sadness for once. I'd have missed you too much if you had actually followed through on what you had been planning. Alive and happy is a good look on you. Failing History and having to study it with you made me happy, even if you'd hit me if you ever hear me say this. _

 

_ I'm glad we're friends again. We might not be what we once were, but I'm hopeful that we can be better than what we were before. I should be satisfied with what I have but I'm selfish, and I wish that we could be something more. _

 

_ Falling in love with a straight boy really is the worst. _

 

_ I'll never tell you how I feel, because I don't want to lose you. Middle school was bad enough, I don't want to go through that again. So, I'll only say this. _

 

_ Donghyuck, my sunshine, I'm unutterably fond of you. _

 

_ Love, Mark. _

 

_ 5th October, 2017. _

 

_ *** _

 

Donghyuck entered school the next day to find the students huddled in the corridors, whispering.

 

“Did you hear?”

 

“How did it happen?”

 

“Oh my god…”

 

Ignoring them, Donghyuck went into his class. He was taking out his books when Jaemin stumbled in and headed straight for him.

 

“Are you alright?”

 

“Why wouldn't I be?” Donghyuck looked up, puzzled. “Although now that you mention it, I have been feeling a little queasy. Maybe it's indigestion.”

 

“Haven't you heard? Mark was involved in a hit-and-run last night. He's in a coma now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't kill me. 
> 
> @junesuns on twt.


	4. Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donghyuck visits Mark in the hospital.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sleepy and I'll be getting my exam papers back tomorrow so I don't really have enough brain cells to be coherent, let alone judge how well I've written this.

Everything in the hospital was white. Blinding white floors, white walls, white lights, white sheets, white curtains. It was bad enough  that Donghyuck always had a headache when he left. Mark would have hated it - he had always said that God gave humans eyes so that they could see the world in colour. On top of that, the sterile smell that all hospitals seemed to have made Donghyuck nauseous. He hated going to hospitals and usually avoided them like the plague.

 

Mark's accident changed things. Now, he didn't avoid the hospital. He went to the hospital everyday. It became a part of his daily routine - wake up, go to school, visit Mark, go back home. Repeat.

 

They'd been friends, best friends, for so long but somehow, Donghyuck had never thought of anything like this happening. Who would have? No one liked to see the ones they loved suffer.

 

The accident happened when Mark had been coming home from basketball practice, he learned from Mark's mother. He'd been crossing the street when a speeding car, ignoring the traffic signal, had run over him. The driver had been caught later and it was found that he had been intoxicated but none of that mattered, because the damage had already been done and Mark wouldn't wake up.

 

Donghyuck didn't believe in a god, but now he prayed to every deity whose name he could remember, just so that Mark could open his eyes.

 

***

_13th October, 2017._

 

Donghyuck always got flowers on Mondays, so that when they wilted during the week, he could take them away. Today was a Friday, so he got chocolates which he proceeded to eat on behalf of Mark. Mark would have done the same for him anyway, they'd made a pact about this a long time ago.

 

“Hi, Mark. School was boring today. Everyone's already hyped up about Halloween, because there's a rumour going around that the school might allow us to come in costume this year.”

 

He had read on the internet that people who are in a coma can usually hear if people are talking to them, because hearing was the last sense that deteriorated. He figured that Mark would like to know what was going on, so he always talked to Mark like he was there.

 

“If you can hear me, can you hear me properly? Or is it like you're underwater and you're being able to hear me, but not clearly? Man, I wish I knew.”

 

Mark had always said that Donghyuck's brain-to-mouth filter was a little… non-existent.

 

***

Two people, a woman and a teenage boy, sitting on two chairs in a corrider lined with chairs and doors. The woman has her head in her hands and the boy has an arm around her, probably in an attempt to comfort her.

 

“What if he never gets better? What if he wakes up, and it turns out that he's lost his memory or something equally terrible?”

 

“I'm sure it'll be okay,” the boy says soothingly. “For now, we can't do anything other than wait and see what happens. He has to wake up. You know that Mark isn't going to give up so easily.”

 

The woman nods, sniffles and an awkward silence falls. The boy pats her arm gingerly, but doesn't say anything. After a while, the woman sits up with a start, as if she has just remembered something. She rustles around in her purse and takes out a piece of paper, which she hands over to the boy.

 

“I found this on his desk yesterday night. It's a letter, addressed to you.” Mark's mother continues speaking after noticing the look of confusion on Donghyuck's face. “I don't know why he wrote this and I don't know if he even intended to give this to you but now, I think you should have it. Maybe it'll help.”

 

Donghyuck doesn't ask how.

 

***

_26th October, 2017._

 

“So. You love me, huh?”

 

Donghyuck pauses, imagines the way Mark's eyes would have gone wide and his ears would have turned red.

 

“You idiot. Why did you never tell me, instead of assuming things? I like you too, you huge fool, so much that it might even be love. I'm sorry that I didn't realise sooner. I should have, but you know that I'm dense at the oddest moments. Both of us are idiots, we deserve each other.”

 

“You were always cute. You were cute when you were the shy new kid in class and somehow, the longer I knew you, you became even cuter. Obviously, I didn't think you were cute back then. This is a recent epiphany.”

 

“You know, the reason I broke up with Eunji was because of you. She told me that she only dated me so that she could get closer to you. The funny thing is, when she finally told me this, I didn't know how to react. I was hurt, obviously, but I was more jealous of the fact that she liked you enough to do something so underhand. I didn't tell you because I knew that you'd convince yourself that the whole thing was your fault and then you'd mope and feel guilty. But even I don't know what I was thinking, ignoring you like that. I'll bluff and make excuses when you wake up, but now, I'm not going to say anything because my behaviour was unpardonable.  I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry I hurt you. I was so busy thinking about myself that I didn't think about you. I'm a terrible best friend, and a terrible person to have a crush on too, I suppose."

 

“Mark, you are the most important person in my life. You've saved me so many times unknowingly, with your cuddles and your advice and the mint ice-cream that you only had because I like it. That night as well. I've never thanked you for that properly, have I? I will, once you wake up, I promise.”

 

“You won't believe how long I've thought about kissing you. I wish that you would open your eyes right now, so that I could kiss you.”

 

Donghyuck had developed a habit of holding Mark's hands while talking to him. He didn't notice that Mark's hands twitched at first and when he did, his eyes flew to Mark's face. Mark was staring at him with a surprisingly steady gaze.

 

“What are you waiting for?”

 

Donghyuck's mouth went dry and he croaked, “What?”

 

“You said that you would kiss me, so do it. I'm getting old here,” Mark said with a weak voice.

 

“You're insufferable,” Donghyuck grumbled.

 

“It's the drugs, I think. Hurry up, before I fall asleep.”

 

“Shut up,” Donghyuck grumbled, but he still leaned in. Mark went into the kiss with a smile on his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god. OH MY GOD. Even I'm shaking, and I wrote this goddamn scene.
> 
> Listen to 'how stray kids "3rd eye" would sound like if you drowned' on Youtube. It seems fitting for this chapter.
> 
> I'll freak out about this in the morning. Scream with/at me on twt, I'm @junesuns there!
> 
> Signing off now, this was Sleep Enthusiast June.


	5. Leader

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark gets an offer.

A warrior should be proud of their scars. The more scars a warrior has, the greater is their worth. Scars are a sign that the warrior has overcome challenges while attaining excellence in their craft, a quiet declaration of their dedication, their determination. 

 

Now, in the time of simulations and holos, this was an obsolete way of thinking.  _ Old-fashioned,  _ people would say if they were kind, or had nothing else to say. The people who were not kind would laugh and call them touched in their heads.

 

Being a warrior, a protector of the peace, was not a duty of honour anymore.

 

***

 

Mark had not asked for any of this.

 

He had signed up for becoming a volunteer for the Peacekeepers only because he needed the extra money he'd get. College was hell for a broke student who had to provide for himself and he was desperate enough to take up any offer that was an alternative to him becoming a camboy.

 

Then, he was assigned to the NCT unit. Headed by Lee Taeyong, it was one of the biggest Peacekeeper units and one of the most mysterious because no kne who wasn't directly connected to the unit had an idea of how it worked. NCT was full of secrets, and Mark had not wanted to get involved in matters which complicated his simple, ordinary life. 

 

Imagine his horror when he found that Taeyong, and all the other members, believed in the old-fashioned method of training and he'd had to endure the hellish thing himself. Well, he  _ says  _ that it was hellish (because anything that didn't have at least 30 percent of digital influence was supposed to be something out of the ordinary), but Mark had grown to enjoy it. That, coupled with his perfectionist nature, meant that he ended up attracting the attention of the unit leader himself.

 

The unit leader, who had just offered him a a permanent spot in NCT. And instead of replying, he had panicked and ran out of the conference room. 

 

The other people who had been with him there came to find him after the meeting had finished. 

 

“Why did you run off?” Haechan spoke up. The others gathered nearby, close but not too close, ready to offer their support and comfort if Mark needed them to.

 

Mark looked up from his spot on the floor, taking his face out of his hands. “I was scared.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because I don't know what I did to make Taeyong-hyung give me the offer.”

 

Haechan slid closer until he was sitting beside Mark and then he hugged him. Mark stiffened for a second, and then relaxed. 

 

“You should have stayed, you know. Hyung offered all of us spots, not just you. He also wants all of us to form a subunit, with you as our leader.”

 

“ _ What?  _ You're joking, right?”

 

“Nope.”

 

Chenle spoke up. “Hyung, he's seen all of us during training. He's seen that you're a good leader, you make people listen and want to obey.”

 

“You know and trust all of us, and we know and trust you too.” That was Jeno. 

 

“What he said,” Jaemin said and shrunk back when he saw Renjun glare at him. “What? You know what I mean!”

 

Ignoring Renjun and Jaemin bickering behind him, Jisung said, “You're the person who can lead us the best. Not anyone else.”

 

“And you're the person who told us that story about that tow truck who loved his dents and then compared it to the scars we'd recieved that day in training. You're the person who comforted us when we were down. You can't escape from us now, can you?” Haechan shook Mark gently. “So, say that you'll stay.”

 

Mark didn't need to be convinced any further. 

 

***

 

“Oh yeah, hyung also wants you and Haechan-hyung to be a part of 127.”

 

_ “What?” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY I DISAPPEARED, BUT I'M BACK NOW!
> 
> This week's been tough on me. I'd been under a lot of stress, but that's eased up a little now. I'll do my best to update as frequently as possible until I've caught up!
> 
> This chapter is a little rushed (also, very loosely connected to the prompt, but I managed to get my Cars reference in!) because I wanted to update as soon as I could. Kudos and comments would be welcome anyway!
> 
> I'm @junesuns on twt, so hmu and we can scream together.
> 
> Peace!

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired to write this after reading the absolutely adorable Chensung thirty day fic written by @wistfullywishing. Please check it out, you'll like it!
> 
> Like my other major life decisions, this is completely impromptu so let's see how this goes. Stay tuned for a Wild Ride!
> 
> This is the first time I'm attempting something this big so please be kind!
> 
> I'm @junesuns on twt. Come and talk to me, I swear that I don't bite.
> 
> -June


End file.
